You made it halfway through the work week! Now take a moment to step away from the chaos, stretch and worship your Savior who makes all the time in the world for you. Here are a few songs that have motivated me this week. Press play, take a deep breath and let the Holy Spirit minister to you.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. -John 14:26

This past week I had the opportunity to completely unplug and commune with other like-minded women. We breathed, woke up at the crack of dawn for yoga, worshipped, cried, laughed, and cried some more. God revealed to me that there is nothing wrong with being still. It’s in the moments where I am quiet that His voice is clearer than ever.

In the beginning of a new year, we all have goals to work out and eat less in order to look good, oh and to be healthy too. I have to be honest, entering into my thirtieth year, I’ve been on a mission to be in the best shape of my life by May 15th (aka my 30th birthday). By shape I mean a two pack, not six, a healthy set of calf muscles and you know tuning up all the edges.

Being so fixated on having this 30-year-old perfect physique, I disregarded the other little benefit of being fit…health. You know, the small fine print that increases your chances of a longer, more satisfying life. It took me sitting here pondering what to write about while dipping carrots into peanut butter, to determine that there has to be greater purpose behind my #fitnessgoals than just to look a certain way.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

While the above scripture is referring to sexual immorality, it so thoroughly applies to all areas of lust whether lust for food, physical idleness, etc. Our bodies were handcrafted by the Creator. How dare we disrespect them by eating whatever we want when we want, neglecting its natural need to be trained and active, and simply overlooking what it tells us? Yes, our body talks to us. When we get a stomachache from eating the wrong foods or a headache from lack of sleep, our body is communicating to us its top priorities. But we ignore them to satisfy our internal flesh.

I get it, we are busy. This generation operates in overdrive. We are taught that we are most successful when we are doing as much as we possibly can within a 24-hour span. We have to work eight plus hours a day while staying plugged into what is going on in the world, maintain all of our social media while producing two shows , writing a book and taking out the trash. Our to-do list is longer than Bill Gates’ bank account. But in the midst of checking off the items on our agenda, somewhere we forget about the one thing that should be at the top of the list; that’s right look in the mirror and you’ll find the answer.

My goal for all of us is to take inventory of the time we spend investing in ourselves. If you have a day full of accomplishments and none of them include ensuring that you are whole–spirit, mind, and body, then you have worked in vain. None of your other achievements will provide fulfillment without first fulfilling the need to take care of self.

I finally realize that my drive to be fit expands beyond how an outfit sits on me. It has to do with the fact that it really isn’t okay that I’ve gotten accustomed to being tired all day even after a consistent pattern of 7-8 hours of sleep or feeling nauseous after eating certain foods that our human bodies were not created to consume or being winded after climbing three flights of stairs. These are all common issues that God has given us the tools to address and correct but it will require discipline. It will mean sacrificing lifelong patterns as well as some of the things that you love most, but it will all be worth it; if not to you then to your children and their children and the legacy that you will leave behind.

I am encouraged today to work out toward a purpose. I want my #goals to extend beyond the exterior to an interior cleansing. I want to run into a new mindset and eat a God-led diet balancing time spent studying His Word and talking to Him, with training my body to perform at its full functionality. I want to be able to hear from Him more clearly by ridding of the impurities that block my understanding. I want to be healthy in the full sense of the word as dictionary.com defines it “soundness of body or mind,” and “vigorous mentality.” Will you join me on this journey? Comment below with your real life #fitnessgoals or hit me up on IG @ms_disclosednative with any tips, struggles, or just to talk it out. Let’s hold each other accountable!